License Management

About Licenses

This product features user-based licensing which requires that you purchase a license for each user that intends to host meetings. We count licenses as follows:

If a user hosts at least one meeting per 30-day window, then that user consumes one license. If this user hosts additional meetings in this same 30-day window, the user still only consumes one license, unless this user hosts simultaneous meetings.

If a user hosts simultaneous meetings (at the same date and time), then the system counts an additional license for each simultaneous meeting hosted by this user in the 30-day window.

If a user hosts no meetings in the 30-day window, then this user consumes no licenses.

Note

There is currently a known issue that causes no licenses to be consumed if a user attends only the teleconference portion of a meeting (and not the web portion). In future versions of this product, attending either the teleconference or web portion of a meeting (or both) will result in a license use.

Note

The system counts license use for each user every 30 days, as shown in the following table.

Scenario

Meeting Date

Meeting Start Time

Simultaneous Meetings

Licenses Consumed in 30 Days

User A schedules a meeting but does not host it.

January 1

9:00 a.m.

No

0

User B hosts one meeting.

January 2

9:00 a.m.

No

1

User C hosts two meetings on different dates and times.

January 3

January 4

9:00 a.m.

10:00 a.m.

No

1

User D hosts two meetings on the same date and time.

January 6

January 6

9:00 a.m.

9:00 a.m.

Yes (2)

2

User E hosts two meetings on the same date and time, and another two simultaneous meetings on a different date and time within the month.

January 6

January 6

January 10

January 10

9:00 a.m.

9:00 a.m.

4 p.m.

4 p.m.

Yes (2)

2

User F hosts two meetings on the same date and time neither of which he attends, although the meetings occur.

January 7

January 7

9:00 a.m.

9:00 a.m.

Yes (2)

2

User G hosts a meeting and passes host rights to another participant during the meeting. The user then hosts a 2nd meeting that runs simultaneously with the 1st meeting.

January 8

January 8

9:00 a.m.

9:00 a.m.

Yes (2)

2

User H hosts a meeting but all of the meeting participants join the teleconference only (not the web portion) with the Join Before Host option selected.

January 9

9:00 a.m.

No

0

User J hosts two meetings on the same date and time but all of the meeting participants join the teleconference only (not the web portion) with the Join Before Host option selected.

January 10

January 10

9:00 a.m.

9:00 a.m.

No

0

User K hosts a meeting and passes host rights to another participant during the meeting. The user then hosts a 2nd meeting that runs simultaneously with the 1st meeting but all of the 2nd meeting participants join the teleconference only (not the web portion) with the Join Before Host option selected.

January 11

January 11

10:00 a.m.

10:00 a.m.

No

1

180-Day Free-Trial Period

After you sign in to this product for the first time and complete the first-time-experience wizard, your 180-day free-trial begins. During the free trial, administrators can configure the system and your users can schedule, host, and attend meetings. A banner appears at the top of the Administration site indicating how many days remain in your free trial. Thirty days before your free trial ends, you receive an email that informs you that you must purchase and install licenses or your system will be disabled.

At the end of your free trial, your system is disabled. You can sign in to your system but you cannot use any other features until you add licenses. Refer to the Cisco WebEx Meetings Server Administration Guide for more information on managing your licenses.

Obtaining Licenses

Contact your Cisco sales representative to order licenses for your system. When you contact your sales representative, you will need to specify how many licenses you want. You will need one license for each employee in your organization who will be hosting meetings.

There are several ways you can determine how many licenses you will need. You can use your dashboard to view usage, resource history, and meeting trends to determine how many users are hosting and attending meetings on your system. After you have been using the product for a few months, you can use your monthly summary reports and customized details reports to help you determine how many licenses you need. Your monthly summary reports display statistics on service adoption and user license usage. Service adoption statistics show you the rate at which new users are adopting your system by displaying the rate of adoption for the previous three months and predicting the growth rate over the next three months. User license statistics display license usage over the previous three months and expected growth over the next three months.

After you purchase licenses from your Cisco sales representative, he will send you an email that contains your Product Authorization Key (PAK). Use the licenses tool at the Administration site to enter your PAK and register your licenses. Refer to the Cisco WebEx Meetings Server Administration Guide for more information on managing your licenses.

License Overages

Once you have purchased and configured licenses on your system, you must make sure you have enough licenses to accommodate all hosts on your system. Your system checks every 30 days if there are enough licenses for each host. If the number of hosts on your system exceeds the number of licenses, an email is sent to the administrator notifying him of the overage. You are given a six-month grace period to increase the number of licenses on your system so that it meets or exceeds the number of hosts. If you do not purchase enough licenses to meet usage before the end of the six-month period, your system will be disabled. The email message informs the administrator of the date when this will occur.

The system checks and adjusts the license numbers displayed on the administration site. The audit manager runs once per day (at 2:00 a.m.) to adjust the overage number as necessary. At the end of each 30-day period, the system checks license usage. If the number of hosts has dropped below the number of licenses, the overage condition ends. If the number of hosts still exceeds the number of licenses, a new email is sent to your administrator each month that notifies him that the overage condition still exists and the date when the system will be disabled.

If you still have an overage condition after six months, your system is disabled and the administrator receives an email notifying him what has occurred. After your system is disabled your users will be unable to schedule, host, or attend meetings on your system. The Administration site will function normally so an administrator can sign in and add licenses. Once an administrator has added licenses to the system, users will regain the ability to schedule, host, and attend meetings.

Temporary Licenses

If you have temporary licenses configured on your system, your temporary license status appears on a banner on each page of the Administration site. The banner informs you of how many temporary licenses you have configured and when those temporary licenses expire. When temporary licenses expire your system returns to its previous license status.

Out-of-Date Licenses

If you upgrade your system, you must also update your licenses. Once you have upgraded your system, an email is sent to your administrator notifying him that he has been given a six-month grace period to update the licenses. If you do not update your licenses before the end of the six-month period, your system will be disabled. The email message informs the administrator of the date when this will occur.

The system checks and adjusts the license numbers displayed on the administration site. The audit manager runs once per day (at 2:00 a.m.) to adjust the out-of-date licenses number as necessary. At the end of each 30-day period, the system checks to see if the licenses have been updated from the previous period. If the licenses have been updated, the out-of-date license condition ends. If the licenses have not been updated yet, a new email is sent to your administrator each month that notifies him that the out-of-date license condition still exists and the date when the system will be disabled.

If you still have an out-of-date license condition after six months, your system is disabled and the administrator receives an email notifying him what has occurred. After your system is disabled your users will be unable to schedule, host, or attend meetings on your system. The Administration site will function normally so an administrator can sign in and update the licenses. Once an administrator has updated the licenses, users will regain the ability to schedule, host, and attend meetings.

Enterprise License Manager (ELM) Connection Lost

When you purchase licenses, you use an embedded ELM tool to enter your PAK and register your licenses. ELM performs synchronization every 12 hours to update the license status and last compliance time. If two days pass with no connection to ELM, an email is sent to your administrator to inform him that ELM is unable to synchronize with your system. You are given a six-month grace period to reconnect to ELM. If your system does not reconnect with ELM before the end of the six-month period, your system will be disabled. The email message informs the administrator of the date when this will occur.

A new email is sent to your administrator at the end of each month that the system is unable to connect with ELM informing him of the date when the system will be disabled. If your system reconnects with ELM before the six-month grace period passes, this condition ends.

If your system is still unable to connect to ELM after six months, your system is disabled and the administrator receives an email notifying him what has occurred. After your system is disabled your users will be unable to schedule, host, or attend meetings on your system. The Administration site will function normally so an administrator can sign in to the system but the system must reconnect with ELM to end this condition and restore the ability to schedule, host, and attend meetings.